Cannon: Always Been a Skier's Mountain First
By C. Van Ostren - Amidst the bustle of eager skiers stepping into the bright red cable car of New Hampshire's only aerial tramway, it is easy to almost miss the secret glimpse you get into the state's quintessential ski mountain.
(PRWEB) March 8, 2005 -- Cannon Mountain sits perched above Interstate 93
like a gate to New Hampshire's snow-covered North Country, lined on one side by
the two large cable cars that glide effortlessly up steel cables to the
mountain's peak. From the highway, Cannon's white trails seem too accessible,
too close to civilization, and just too normal to compete with the best ski
areas in the country.
But when you turn off the exit, drive a few hundred
yards to the base lodge, and strap on your skis, you begin to see a mountain
that measures itself not by the number of stars of its dining room, but rather
by the number of families that come back to its slopes year after
year.
Cannon has always been a skier's mountain first. According to local
legend, the first trails from the top of the 4,186 foot high peak were carved
into the evergreens a century ago by releasing huge boulders from the summit.
The curving, bouncing paths the rocks took became trails like Upper Cannon and
Upper Ravine - natural ski runs that are marked by snow-crusted pine trees and a
view that goes all the way to Canada on a clear day.
It wasn't too long
after the boulders carved out their trails that Cannon became the home to the
first aerial tramway in North America. From its birth in 1938 until an expansion
and modernization in 1980, the bright red cable cars of the tram carried 6.5
million skiers up the side of Cannon's eastern face.
But more than the
new red and yellow cable cars have changed with time. Two decades ago, when the
original 27-passenger cable cars replaced with modern 80-person models, Cannon
wasn't just a skier's mountain first. It was a skier's mountain,
period.
Today, improved snowmaking, new lifts, and trail expansions have
turned Cannon into a place where entire families can ski together, with one of
the widest ranges of skiing in New England. Snowmaking now supplements New
Hampshire's winter snowfall on a majority of the mountain, and the tram's ascent
to the summit competes with modern, high-speed quad lifts.
Embracing
change, the mountain opened a new Brookside area last year, with nine trails for
beginners that combine the gentle slope of a training run with the tree-lined
paths of the higher elevations.
Along with these new expansions, the same
runs that have challenged serious skiers for decades still stretch across the
mountain's east side with a deceptively inviting smile. Standing at the top of
Gary's, a trail that separates the intermediate skiers from the beginners, the
view of the highway snaking through Franconia Notch is the same as it was twenty
years ago when the tramway got its facelift.
Cannon's evolution - from a
mountain for ski racers to a mountain for their friends and families as well -
is due in part it its unique status as the only ski area in New Hampshire's
White Mountains that is also an official state park. Families skeptical of
spending a fortune at a four-star resort (after all, what the kids really want
is a plate of good chicken fingers!) are eager to take advantage of the
mountain's value. Current discounts allow a family of four to ski for only $98
on Tuesdays and Thursday, and even on peak holidays lift tickets at the
state-run facility are among the least expensive in New England.
Being a
state-run facility doesn't keep the people who work on the mountain from feeling
a sense of pride. Far from it. Above the ski rental window at Cannon's base
lodge is a promotional poster of a local ski racer who made it big, crouched
over and leaning into a right turn with the edges of his skis almost vertical to
the powdery snow. The writing scrawled at the top in silver marker is more of a
yearbook message than an endorsement. "For the boys at the Cannon Mountain
rental shop," it says proudly.
The "boys" at the
rental shop - along with the 'lifties,' the ruggedly hansom ski patrol director,
and the 74-year old local who shovels the walkways at 4 a.m. every morning - are
what make the mountain often feel more like a big family or a summer camp than a
resort.
"Families come to Cannon Mountain because they see the same
people working the lifts year after year," explains Marketing Director Amy
Bassett, who sheepishly admits she has only worked on the mountain for twelve
years. "Twelve years is nothing here."
No one knows whether it was the
younger ski patrollers or the kids visiting the mountain that christened the red
and yellow tram cars 'ketchup" and "mustard," but the name stuck.
The
views from "ketchup" and "mustard" are so good that they run all year for
sightseers, but it nothing beats a tram ride with snow still clinging to your
boots from your last ski run. On a foggy day, the cables extend up into the sky
like great big telephone lines to heaven, with no end in sight, and on a sunny
day the views from the tram are nothing short of spectacular. It's easy to get a
bit mesmerized by the size of the treeless peak of Lafayette Mountain, staring
down at Cannon from across the highway like a distrustful older
sibling.
The mile-long tram ride last only about eight minutes. But
standing at the window watching families laugh, teenagers pant out of breath,
and couples hold each other close, you realize that maybe a quick glance around
a cable car can sum up a mountain after all - even one as unique as
Cannon.
Cannon Mountain, in rugged Franconia Notch State Park, NH, is
operated by the Division of Parks and Recreation of New Hampshire's Department
of Resources and Economic Development. With nine lifts and 55 winter trails,
lift tickets at Cannon begin at $25 for teens and children and $38 for adults
midweek ($38/45 weekends).
For more information on Cannon Mountain visit
www.cannonmt.com
or call 603-823-8800.
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/3/prweb215391.htm